Tutorial: EASY Prickly Pear Cactus

This watercolor tutorial is super EASY and super FUN! I know you'll enjoy the results (or at least the practice).

1) Draw out the shapes of the prickly pear- they are sort of like upside down tear drops. Add some blossoms if you want!

2) We start painting! Use some lemon yellow to brighten up the middles of each section.

3) Phthalo blue around the edges- the water-ier, the better.

4) Add lines of violet around the edges, and blend them with water to soften the lines.

5) Add a nice watery pink to the blossoms and use violet to add dots where the spines will come from. Notice that the spots go on diagonal lines in a grid-ish pattern.

6) Add another layer of pink on the shaded parts of the blossoms- you can even add some pink at the places where the pear shapes meet (like a shadow).

7) Using a small round brush, you will add the spines coming from each purple spot. You can use violet for this- always pull from the center going out, this way the spines will get smaller at the tips. I prefer to pull the brush toward my body with my wrist, so I do all the spines going toward me and then rotate the paper to do the next set of spines.